Williams-Sonoma

My past reviews have been 1 star or less. I went in the store today and was greeted by «Anna» the Asst. Mgr. Wow, she even helped me at the register which has never happened to me! Usually you have to be helped by someone as you walk in the store so that the person can also ring you up at the register. They can’t multi-​task for some reason handling other customers. Usually WS doesn’t even want your business or money because there is usually no one at the register. Anna was terrific. She really cared about customer service and had great product knowledge. I’ve never seen her there before. Maybe they brought her in because of all these Unilocal on horrible customer service. Before, I can feel and expect my blood pressure go up whenever I walk into that store. I send my husband in to pick things up because I won’t go. He understood my feelings-​he had felt it as well and even walked out at one time. My husband and I had a pleasant experience shopping at the store today. Hopefully with Anna there, things will turn around with that store for the better. I have my fingers crossed!

Unreal the service we received tonight. No one helped us we then are waiting in line to pay and they start taking people that were being helped to pay first. It’s unreal how if your in your 20s you get treated like a kid and pushed to the side will never come here again. Happy holidays

I suppose it’s my fault. I either left my One Ring on, or forgot to take off my invisibility cloak, as I went noticed and unseen by the staff at this store. Oh, wait — I don’t have either of these. So how was it that the staff didn’t see that I was in the store, with purchase in hand, standing at the counter waiting to pay? I mean, I looked right at the guy and said «We’re ready!» and he looked right through me, as if I wasn’t there. It’s not the first time this has happened to us, nor other people, after reading the reviews on this store. Way to go, WS. Here’s a tip; acknowledge your customer’s presence. Now i just need to figure out what to do with my gift card, because I won’t ever shop here again and I don’t want to give them my money. Ever.

Great little store with a wide selection of cutlery, dinnerware, gadgets, foods…
It’s a shame though, I wish I could have enjoyed my shopping experience more if it wasn’t for a blonde employee on the larger side tailing me all around the store and looking into my bags as if I was a thieving criminal.
…Rather drive the extra distance to another location than visit this one again.

This store seems more crowded than other locations.
Not as in bustling with shoppers and queues out the door — but that there is too much merchandise for the space. It just seems cramped. Not very inviting in that sense.
When I was in the store, they were sampling some sort of coffee that people were queued up for (I’m not a coffee drinker, so I wasn’t one of them).
I came in to look at some of the sauces and mixes, but the shopping environment just wasn’t pleasant enough to be worth my time.
I’ll peek in again in the future, but will otherwise stick to the South Coast location.

Service:
$ 1.800 purchase decisions don’t come everyday. Making that amount of money is hard when you decide to blow it on an amenity, but that’s what my wife and I were deciding. Service was great right off the start except the nice gentleman that helped us stood between me and my wife and had his back to her the whole time only talking with me. Maybe he didn’t know what his posture meant to my wife and I but he only talked with me and only looked at me. Even when my wife had questions, they were answered differently and with less urgency than with me. He gave me his card, it’ s his section he said.
Cut to decision time. Came back into store and walked over to item. A different person came up to us and was great, more attentive to my wife and I as a couple who were looking, not just myself. The first guy came over to where we all were and stood with us and interjected to the conversation that I should have remembered something I was talking about (jokingly), whatever it was just a way to let the other person helping us know that he was the person first helping us. I asked if the item came with something that someone should know and the guy said he wasn’t sure and the other person said they would be happy to go check. Not too bad so far. But then the guy comes up to me and tells me that I was supposed to come back in to talk with him, that’s why he gave me his card. I said we walked in and walked over to the item and received service, we weren’t looking for someone to service us, it just happened. I then asked if he received commission because he was obviously not happy. He said, that’s why I gave you my card. Well, his service dropped as soon as I said I didn’t care who sold us something and that I was sorry if I offended him but we just wanted to look at the item of interest.
Couldn’t tell us amperage of unit or whether unit came with peripherals of interest. The other person did! Apparently he went to the back room, waited for the other person to go into the back and they had a brief talk about who should get the sale. Second person came back out and said the original guy would be finishing the sale. I said that’s fine I know he started with us and I didn’t want to get into it with who I actually wanted to have help us at this point. My wife was very upset. I actually brought the excitement of the purchase down to the floor if you catch my drift. She didn’t get treated the way she expected and for being in the industry for 25 years and understanding well how service works, she saw some obvious service holes and issues.
After a thought about it, I decided to go back into the store the next day and explain the situation to a manager about everything above which is always hard to do because you want to communicate effectively but not harshly and you don’t want to make a scene. Letting the manager know how we felt we were treated and having to be exposed to internal sales tactics and sales incentives isn’t something consumers should have to be a part of. The manager was very nice and said they knew what they were going to do. I don;t care what they did, I just needed to let them know.
It wasn’t the worst experience I’ve had but it made my wife upset and that’s good enough reason for me to consider the ethics of it all and inform a manager.
The item we purchased is AWESOME!

I will change my recent rating based upon the fact that corporate contacted me as well as the store manager and will exchange my previous purchase.

I have serious issues with Williams Sonoma. Don’t shop here if you want to throw away your hard earned cash. I bought some Provencal flatware at an outrageous price of over $ 90 for just 5 pieces of eating utensils. They were good quality, but I ended up spending about $ 360 for a 20 piece set at the Mission Viejo store and I purchased another set at the Crystal Cove store for the same price. I spent well over $ 700 for 40 pieces of eating utensils. Yeah, I saw the price and nobody made me buy them. I realize that. What bothers me is on the website it says the flatware was made in Korea yet there is a stamp on the flatware that says China. Think about it: would you buy a Hyundai from from South Korea or a car from China? Big difference. I also have a problem with the price of their Lodge skillet. Lodge skillets are awesome and everybody knows that. I bought an 8″ and a 12″ Lodge skillet; but I was smart enough to ask Patrick to price match the same items at Sports Chalet. Thank you Patrick! Williams Sonoma charges $ 35.95 for the 12″ Lodge skillet while Sports Chalet charges $ 21.99 for the same item. That’s almost a $ 14 difference. Williams Sonoma charges $ 17.95 for the 8″ Lodge skillet while Sports Chalet charges $ 12.99 for the same item. That’s almost a $ 5 difference. Chuck Williams started that company way back in 1956 and I seriously doubt he would find their prices and business practices acceptable. Another thing that bothers me is the online price of the flatware I purchased. The store charges about $ 120 more for what I bought. Williams Sonoma should charge fair and reasonable prices, and show they appreciate the hard working men and women who frequent their stores. I saw a spatula in their store for $ 75. Seriously? Seventy five dollars for a spatula to flip burgers? Again, the online price was $ 52.50 which is a big difference. Will I ever go back to Williams Sonoma? Never. The only way to get me back in a Williams Sonoma store is if someone gave me a gift certificate. I give Williams Sonoma one star because that’s the lowest rating Unilocal has.

Give me a break. No matter if you order online or goto the store Williams Sonoma is NOT at all about customer service. The ordering online with any back order items will result in Williams Sonoma to never update you on status even though its 10 days passed the back order ship date. After the 3^rd time on a 5 item order they didn’t even want to reconcile the poor customer maintenance and upkeep for an active order. It might’ve been ok if this was the only time this happened but after the third call for the 3^rd item it gets quite old considering the amount of work and time to deal with getting what i paid for becomes more work than simply driving to a better establishment that cares about customer service. DO NOT SHOP AT ANY WILLIAMS SONOMA ever. Overpriced bullshit items anyways.

They really need more people in this place to help. I love the products but the service is hit and miss.

I came here with the intention of buying a gift for a wedding that I’m attending„ but the customer service here (or lack there of) caused me to leave without buying anything. I walked in and it took a good 5 minutes of me lurking around the counter before someone even acknowledged me and there was only 1 other customer in the store. One girl didn’t even look up from her computer. I understand you are preoccupied but at least say hi to your customers… when I finally did get someone to help me, she acted like I was bugging her. She pointed to the registry computer in the back of the store and said «go type their names in here and then print it. I will be back to check on you because I have to put something away» I located the registry, tried to print it, and realized the printer had no paper. I looked around, for a minute or 2… the lady still was in the back, and there was now no one on the floor. I said «forget it!» because at this point I was annoyed. I left the store, and went a few doors down to Pottery Barn where they were very friendly and willing to help me. It’s a shame that my first experience ever being a customer at Williams Sonoma was a bad one.

I normally love, love, love, Williams-​Sonoma and look forward to regularly visiting the MV store. Today I returned an item for an ‘even exchange’ for a gift I’d received yesterday for my birthday. All tags were attached, and the item was STAMPED Williams-​Sonoma. I was treated very rudely as I returned the item without the gift receipt (again, item was stamped ‘WS’).
I was informed that this was a huge imposition, and an allowance was being made. I was also accused of using the item before returning, which it clearly hadn’t.
My young son even commented on the rude treatment as we left the store. It was embarrassing.
My main message is to bring your gift receipt with you, or you might expect this type of treatment. I’m disappointed in the salesperson’s treatment from a store of this caliber. Clearly, more customer service training is due.

Best service I have experienced in any retail store in a while. Rebecca went above and beyond to locate the color I wanted of a Nespresso Pixie machine. South Coast system said they had 2 but wouldn’t even look for it when I called and when she called.
I had bought another color already but when I got it home it didn’t look right on my counter. They already made the sale and didn’t have to go out of their way to find it for me. Rebecca called me every couple of days to keep me up to date on its arrival. When I went in the store all the gals were so helpful and made the switch to the new one with no hassle what so ever.
I will only be going to the Mission Viejo store from now on. They are deserving of my business and I’m happy to give it to them.

This review is specifically for the Mission Viejo location. I agree with all of the other reviewers about their HORRENDOUS customer service. CRAZY BAD ATTITUDES.
Let’s face it – no one likes returning things. It’s a pain in the ass. From the moment I walked into the store with my return item, it’s like all the sales people stopped talking just to stare me down. Okay, so i didn’t have a gift receipt for this clearly unused gift, but because I had just returned a bunch of things to the South Coast Plaza location and the Santa Monica location without a gift receipt (I get a LOT of gifts from WS because everyone knows how much I love kitchen gadgets), I thought I would have no problems at this store.
So I lugged the heavy item to this Mission Viejo store, and not only was I greeted with the dirtiest looks on the face of this earth the minute I stepped foot inside, but I was treated like some dumb ass who didn’t know what a return policy was. I’m fine with you not accepting my return, just say «I’m really sorry, I don’t know how you were able to return those items to the other store, but this is our return policy». AND SAY IT NICELY, not like a total b*tch with a rod stuck up her ass, not even making eye contact with me and continuing to peel her potatoes.
I’m not ok with your piss poor attitude of treating me like some subhuman and insinuating that I might have «bought it from Costco» to return it at WS. Are you f*cking kidding me? I don’t have that kind of time or energy. And it absolutely makes me regret the THOUSANDS of dollars my friends, family and I have spent at WS.
I can respect a return policy (in this case clearly inconsistent), but I can’t accept b*tchy attitudes.

Nothing short of exceptional customer service. Ask for Gail or Kris, they will take wonderful care of you! Thank you ladies, for helping me out in a pinch !!

Brought my new nespresso machine home last night, the sales lady was very nice and made sure we were aware of their 20% off deal they were running so it ended up being cheaper than anywhere else. The prices in the store can pain the wallet a little bit but its a super clean store with great people working there and that is all I can ask for. We will be back.

I’m writing this specifically about a product demonstration I went to on a Sunday morning. The first disappointment was that the class started about 10 minutes late. They told me to come 15 minutes before class, so that meant that I was waiting 25 minutes in line outside the store before being allowed in. Once the doors open, it was obvious that calling to «register» did nothing. I still had to stand in the back because there were not enough seats. It was then another 30 minutes before they actual got to actually demonstrating the machine. Thirty minutes of being told about other sales in the store, gardening tips and just talking about how people use their machines (some already owned it and were looking for new ways to use it). Sure, learning from others could have been useful, but it wasn’t. It was just a lot of questions about how to use the tool before it had actually been demonstrated, which was a waste of time. There was also a question about whether powdered sugar could be substituted for regular sugar in a recipe, should you happen to run out. What???
Of course, because of all the yakking, the demo ran long and I eventually had to leave before seeing the second demo. I had the feeling that most of the people in the class were regulars, so I’m sure WS makes a lot of money off those folks, but I would just warn people who work and don’t have to invent ways to spend their days that this may not be the WS to go to for the classes that they offer. I have been to demos in other stores and they were focused on the topic and moved along at a good pace. They also reserved the chairs for people that had registered. This, by the way, was a $ 720 machine, that I didn’t buy because I didn’t get a full demonstration.
And like another review pointed out — it takes forever to check out. The people working in the store have no sense of urgency. The person in front of me wanted something they had to get from the basement and the cashier was gone for like ten minutes getting it and then she couldn’t ring it up correctly.

After putting forth an unusual amount of effort using my zester this morning in order to make Lemon Blueberry scones, I decided I wanted a Microplane to make the job easier.
William-​Sonoma had one called «Ultimate Citrus Tool Multi-​Zesteur» 3 tools in 1. It’s a microplane zester, a small and large garnish maker and a scorer, too. All this fanciness packed onto a rubberized yellow handled device for $ 12.95.
Yeah! Happy cooking!
P. S.: Especially for Mikey H: Also fondled the blue enamel and iron Staub vertical roaster on sale at $ 99. My son didn’t know what it was so I had to explain, «It’s the fancier version of the beer can chicken and an aluminum pie plate». LOL

I walked into this smaller Williams Sonoma telling myself I wasn’t going to buy anything. I was just going to look. I figured I wouldn’t find anything because this was a smaller location. The staff was friendly, offering us samples of meatballs cooked in their slow cooker. Williams Sonoma tends to be a fun place to shop around for people who like to cook and this one is no exception.
They had the collections of Shun knives, cookbooks, kitchen gadgets, and packages of Sprinkles Cupcake mix that the larger stores carry. Staff was helpful and knew about and showed genuine enthusiasm for the products. Of course, I ended up buying from this store. I’m liking the cutting board I bought from this store.
This store also holds free classes on cooking periodically. The classes showcase products from their store but the one I attended was good.

I’m not sure what it is, but the older I get, the less impressed I am with Williams Sonoma as a whole. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the stuff they carry, but then again, similar high end cooking stores carry the same things. What bothers me the most about WS during this time of year is that there aren’t enough associates for all the people that go into the store, thus, causing a long wait for customers to get to an associate for either a question or for assistance,
I browsed around and every associate was busy helping someone. On top of that there were customers who had things in their hands looking lost like they were waiting for an associate to be free so they could talk to them. What a chaotic situation!
What draws everyone into the store in the first place is the wondrous aromas that drift to people passing by. Today, they were baking Egg Nog pound cake in individual portions (placed in little cups that fast food places uses for ketchup) for sampling. A little boy walked up to the lady baking and said «are there cookies? I smell cookies» … LOL!!! It was so cute. I tried one — nothing spectacular — and then made my way out of the store again since I wasn’t in the mood to stand in line waiting for an associate to help me.